Evaluation of environmental order level in districts of Krakow Metropolitan Area

Environmental order is one of sustainability aspects. Respect for environment, rational management of its resources and protection of biological diversity are only some of the rules that should be followed in order to preserve ecological balance. The paper is aimed to show evaluation of environmental order level in 7 districts included in Krakow Metropolitan Area (in polish: krakowski obszar metrolitalny – KOM). Such evaluations together with analyses of changes of environmental order factors (and also the remaining orders which are components of sustainability) enable to monitor effects of council unit’s activities. Suggested analysis was performed on the basis of 18 factors of environmental order. The data were taken from the Local Data Bank [in Polish: Bank Danych Lokalnych (BDL)] and they concern 2014. The evaluation was carried out by classifying examined units to three types – with best average and worst preserved environmental order. This rating was made by means of two taxonomic methods – Wroclaw taxonomy and Thorndike’s method. It was stated in the research that most districts do well with preserving environmental order. However, there are units where environmental balance is unsettled. They should take immediate actions in order to improve this situation. Collective activities within cooperation of KOM districts could also give measurable improvement and result in improving balance of the whole region’s development.